With the crisis going on in Mogadishu, Somalia, Mr. Meles of Ethiopia has said that peacekeepers from the African Union (AU) are needed in the country. “The situation there – as hard as it is – it could do with less hype and exaggeration,” Mr. Meles has told BBC in an interview.
The crisis in Mogadishu is cited as the worst humanitarian crisis according to the United Nations. This is due to the fighting in the capital between government forces supported by Ethiopian troops and the Islamist insurgents.
The criticism by Meles Zenawi has been dismissed by Eric Laroche, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia. In response to Meles’ criticism, Laroche said it was not surprising that there is a disagreement since Ethiopia is a party to the conflict. He said that the United Nations remained neutral.
It was a year ago when the Ethiopian government intervened and sent troops to the area. They helped the central government expel the Islamists from most of southern Somalia as a result.
On Wednesday, a call for safe zones for over a million Somali children has been made by the UN children’s fund. The million children have been affected by the conflict.
Mr. Meles has criticized the UN’s “neutral” stance as counter-productive. He said that the UN needs to play a more “positive” role in Somalia.
“At the moment some UN agencies appear to be doing damage in respect of parroting totally unfounded reports by some agencies without in any way trying to verify the facts,” Mr. Meles explained.
Ever since 1991, the country has been without a functioning government. Somalia’s transitional government has been faced with insurgency. Without Ethiopia’s aid, the transitional government would be non-existent.
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